The Disney era of Star Wars hasn’t exactly gone off without a hitch, and fans are now more disenfranchised than ever after both The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker faced huge backlash for vastly different reasons, Solo became the lowest-grossing live-action entry in the series by a wide margin, the Obi-Wan Kenobi show on Disney Plus was hit by a major delay, and the procession of filmmakers that sign on to tackle projects set in a galaxy far, far away only to quickly depart continues.
Fans might be up in arms at the way Kathleen Kennedy has been handling the beloved sci-fi saga, but despite their current unhappiness, the Star Wars franchise as a whole remains one of the most popular and beloved brands in history, and no amount of inferior sequels or studio interference will ever be able to change that.
Those disappointed in the sequels, or even those that still can’t bring themselves to give the prequels another try, will always have George Lucas’ three originals to rely on, and this year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of The Empire Strikes Back, regarded by many as the greatest Star Wars movie ever and still one of the yardsticks by which countless high-profile sequels are either measured by or compared to.
We’re already getting a new entry in the From a Certain Point of View book series to mark the occasion, but now Bottleneck Gallery and designer Matt Ferguson have unveiled several new 40th anniversary posters, which you can check out below.
No matter how hard Disney and Lucasfilm try, they’ll never be able to recapture the magic of the original Star Wars trilogy. The constant monetization of the franchise will only lead to diminished returns in the long run, but at least A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi will always endure as cinematic comfort food.
